The present invention generally relates to thin body structures that need to be electrically interconnected, and more particularly relates to luminaires employing thin body light sources, such as OLED panels, to which electrical connections need to be established in confined spaces.
The emergence of thin body light sources as an alternative light source for luminaires has created challenges for designers in providing easy-to-make and efficient electrical connections between the thin body sources and to a power source. This is particularly true if the thin body sources are mounted in thin body support structures having limited space for commonly used electrical wires and wire connectors. Not only is it difficult to provide for wire paths through the thin body support structures and to provide for suitable locations for the wire connectors, the connections themselves are difficult to make because of the small part sizes and confined spaces involved.
The present invention provides for an electrical interconnect system for thin body structures that can be readily accommodated within the thin profiles of the structures. The invention greatly facilitates the establishment of efficient electrical connections within and between thin body structures, and eliminates the need for conventional wire connectors that can be relatively bulky in comparison to the thickness of thin body structures and that can be difficult to locate on the structures.
The invention has particular application in thin body luminaires that employ planar light sources that must be connected within the source's thin body support structure. For exam ple, an OLED luminaire may have a plurality of OLED panels supported in surrounding structures with no appreciable thickness in which to provide wire channels and wire connectors. Moreover, the surrounding structure may be partially or completely transparent, making it difficult to hide the wires and connectors from view. The present invention overcomes these drawbacks by providing an electrical interconnect system that is unobtrusive and easily implemented within the thin profiles of a thin body OLED luminaire.